Using Insects\' Body Powder as a Complementary Growth Factor in Fungal Culture Media

Introduction: Nutritional requirements of fungi are essential for their successful growth in laboratories. Some fungi feed on the compounds present in the insects' bodies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of insects' body powder (IBP) as a supplement for the fungi growth in culture media. Methods: We used 10 mg of IBP, obtained from Anopheles superpictus and Culex theileri mosquitoes, as the optimum amount for the enrichment of Sabouraud Dextrose Agar medium containing chloramphenicol (SC). The growth rate of 27 species belonging to saprophytes and yeasts on this medium was compared with the control SC medium containing no IBP. Results: From a total of 27 species of saprophytic and yeast fungi, 23 showed a positive response to the addition of IBP in the culture media, and there was a significant difference between the growth rate in the culture media containing IBP and the controls (P<0.001). The fungi Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Trichoderma spp., Chrysosporium spp., Mucor spp., Syncephalastrum spp., Scopulariopsis spp., Rhizopus spp., and Stachybotrys spp. showed the highest positive response to the addition of IBP as a supplement (P<0.001). Conclusion: IBP can be used as a supplement in fungal medium cultures for enhancing fungi growth to isolate the pathogenic fungi more rapidly. The use of IBP would be economical in the industry for making culture media. Also, it would be possible to use the fungi tested in the current study for biological control of insects' populations serving as vectors of in infectious diseases.